Knitting and stitch guides - gotta love a messy scrapbook

 

Knitting is becoming a bit of an obsession, and now that I'm getting a bit more confident, I'm trying out various stitch types to try and get away from just knitting a row then purling a row. 

Thanks to our local library, there's a ton of useful books for reference when it comes to trying out new types of stitches, so I figured I needed some sort of knitting / crochet "Bible" for myself to try and help me remember how to do specific types of stitches. 

I'd had a lovely Kiki's Delivery Service notebook kicking around for a long time and figured it would be a good thing to use for this. In each double page spread I will knit a swatch of each stitch type, and write down the pattern / description to aid my ailing memory. 

Some stitches look exactly like the photos did, which is great because it means that they'll be useful when I do finally progress to making my first 'thing' (which I still haven't really yet). 

Others don't come out like I expected at all, and so it's back to the drawing board for some of the more complicated stuff.

I've just learned increases / decreases but that doesn't always help when you're in a pattern that tells you to cast on 20 stitches, then eats 10 of them with decreases without telling you what to do to add in new ones!

I also visited a real and actual bricks and mortar wool shop in our local town over the weekend. 

Masons is an aladdin's cave of yarn and knitting / crochet supplies and there was actually too much to take in, I need to make a list and go back there next time I need yarn (but I must confess I'd find it really hard to break my LoveCrafts habit, that site really does have some good deals but I feel like I should be supporting our local stores rather than diving online for things. 

Knitting still feels so 'different' to crochet. Not as immediate and it's hugely time consuming (even making the swatches for my stitch book took me the better part of an entire day, thankfully it wasn't too busy a weekend). But like crochet it's addictive and I can't wait to actually start making something but first I'm learning Intarsia (colour changing with multiple yarns) and Fair Isle (colour changing with loops 'carried' at the back of the work) so want to get those two things properly nailed before I start trying to make something cool.